A Novel Analytic Technique to Measure Associations Between Circulating Biomarkers and Physical Performance Across the Adult Life Span.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

Understanding associations between circulating biomarkers and physical performance across the adult life span could aid in better describing mechanistic pathways leading to disability. We hypothesized that high concentrations of circulating biomarkers would be associated with lower functioning across study populations representing the adult life span. The data were from four intervention and two observational studies with ages ranging 22-89 years. Biomarkers assayed included inflammatory, coagulation, and endothelial function markers. Physical performance was measured either by VO2peak (studies of young and middle-aged adults) or usual gait speed (studies of older adults). Partialled (by age, body mass index, race, and sex) and weighted common correlations were calculated between biomarkers and physical performance. Homogeneity of the associations was also assessed. Interleukin-6 (weighted r = -.22), tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (weighted r = -.19), D-dimer (weighted r = -.16), tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (weighted r = -.15), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (weighted r = -.14), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (weighted r = -.10) were all significantly inversely correlated with physical performance (p < .05). All significant correlations were homogeneous across studies. In summary, we observed consistent inverse associations between six circulating biomarkers and objective measures of physical performance. These results suggest that these serum biomarkers may be broadly applicable for detection, trajectory, and treatment monitoring of physical function across the life span or possibly for midlife predictors of functionally deleterious conditions.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Peterson, MJ; Thompson, DK; Pieper, CF; Morey, MC; Kraus, VB; Kraus, WE; Sullivan, P; Fillenbaum, G; Cohen, HJ

Published Date

  • February 2016

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 71 / 2

Start / End Page

  • 196 - 202

PubMed ID

  • 25745025

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC4723660

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1758-535X

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1093/gerona/glv007

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • United States